The treatment of medical wastewater is an essential component of healthcare environmental management, with diverse approaches including biological, chemical, and physical methods. This paper focuses on common chemical treatment techniques for medical wastewater, as outlined below:

1.Oxidant-Based Disinfection  

Oxidants are widely employed for medical wastewater disinfection due to their strong microbicidal activity. Chlorine dioxide, for instance, is a highly efficient disinfectant but exhibits limitations such as pungent odor and chemical instability. Ozone, characterized by a high oxidation-reduction potential, effectively degrades organic contaminants and disrupts bacterial cell structures, thereby eliminating resilient microorganisms (e.g., spores, viruses). However, ozone’s instability in aqueous environments—prone to rapid decomposition—restricts its long-term application.

2.Chlorination Disinfection  

Chlorination is a conventional chemical disinfection method, primarily involving sodium hypochlorite and chlorine dioxide processes. Sodium hypochlorite, a pale-yellow transparent liquid with a pungent odor, is a common medical reagent but suffers from low stability, easy decomposition, and weak disinfection efficacy despite its oxidizing properties.

Two primary chlorination strategies are applied in medical wastewater treatment:  

• Manual reagent dosing: Involves adding sodium hypochlorite or calcium hypochlorite directly to wastewater. This method is cost-effective and simple to operate, making it suitable for facilities with low medical wastewater output.
• Automatic sodium hypochlorite generation:Utilizes equipment that dispenses reagents based on real-time water quality and type. While this approach delivers superior treatment performance, it requires higher capital investment and specialized technical personnel, making it ideal for large general hospitals with high patient volumes and substantial wastewater generation.

Liquid chlorine, another key chlorination agent, rapidly dissociates into hypochlorite ions in water. Its high effective chlorine content confers strong disinfection capabilities, making it a staple in medical wastewater treatment.

Emerging Techniques and Supplementary Measures  

In recent years, active oxygen disinfection has gained traction, with its efficacy widely recognized by users. Beyond disinfection, rigorous Medical Wastewater Monitoring is critical to assess water quality and verify compliance with disinfection standards. For chlorine-based disinfection, precise control of total residual chlorine levels is necessary to mitigate the formation of harmful by-products from reactions with microorganisms. The “Total Residual Chlorine Online Analyzer” is typically employed to enable real-time monitoring and regulation of chlorine dosing.

This overview highlights only a subset of chemical treatment methods, underscoring the need for tailored approaches based on facility scale, wastewater characteristics, and regulatory requirements.